USASTRATCOM

This blog was created for USASTRATCOM Long Lines Battalion Army personnel who served in Taiwan during the 1965-72 time frame. Specifically, those who lived and worked in and around Taipei are the target. If you worked at the Grass Mountain or Gold Mountain facilities or anywhere in downtown Taipei, we would like to hear from you. All are welcome to visit and contribute to this blog. Your comments and pictures are encouraged.

Monday, June 20, 2011

Taipei Hotels In The Late 1960s

﻿﻿Of the hotels listed on the 2 pages you'll see, almost all have been demolished. Most were adequate for that time. A few could even considered outstanding back then.

Many military families stayed at one of the downtown hotels until their housing was ready.

﻿﻿﻿﻿These two pages come from a small booklet that was first printed in 1966 and updated a year later.

All that could be found for some of the hotels mentioned are luggage tags or stickers.

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This is the cover of the booklet from which many pages have been scanned.

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Page One

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Still standing at its original location is the Ambassador Hotel.

Photo courtest of Taipics.com

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The Ambassador Hotel today

Photo courtesy of Taipics.com

Hotel China

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Bag Tag image courtesy of Taipics.com

The Diamond Hotel has been demolished. This is the present-day picture of the NongAn Street entrance as it appears from across Chung Shan (Zhongshan) North Road.

Notice the Florida Bakery on the right. There is a stoplight here as well.

The blue blob is the former location of the Diamond Hotel.

Photo courtesy of Taipics.com

The First Hotel on Nanking East Road is still operational.

A 3-Star hotel at best, most reviews are negative.

Luggage Tag Image courtesy of Taipics.com

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Photo courtesy of Taipics.com

There is no certainty as to when this picture of the Grand Hotel was taken. It was, and still is, quite the show place.

Click on this picture to get a great angle of the Grand Hotel today.

The entrance today is shown using Google Earth Street View.

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Luggage Tag Image courtesy of Taipics.com

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If there was one hotel whose location was known to almost everyone who lived or visited Taipei, it was the King's.

On the southwest corner of the Chung Shan/Min Chuan intersection, it was a place where many folks would meet to begin an evening of entertainment.

This shows you how few of us at that time strayed much from the Chung Shan (Zhongshan) North Road and its intersection with Min Chuan (MinQuan.)

The Mandarin was a luxury hotel for those times. Many formal events were held there. As for many of us at the Grass Mountain outpost, the Mandarin was unknown.

Photo courtesy of Taipics.com

Located just south of Taipei International, the Mandarin was a conveniently located hotel.

Page Two

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Luggage Tag Image courtesy of Taipics.com

Photo by Les Duffin; Courtesy of Dawgflight.com

The Oasis Hotel was located on the east side of Chung Shan North Road.

It was so close to the Min Chuan intersection, that it was designated as being on Section 2 of Chung Shan.

Everything to the north of this area and south of the Keelung bridge near USTDC was described as located on Section 3 of the road.

Luggage Tag Image courtesy of Taipics.com

Photo courtesy of Taipics.com

The President Hotel was unique. Built in the middle of a commercial area, it was a luxury hotel and very easy to find as it towered over everything near it.

Located near the East Compound, it looked brand new to us arriving in 1968.

Photo courtesy of Taipics.com

As the years went by, the hotel purchased more land around it and the street was widened.

A friend of mine stayed there on a 1986 business trip. Does anyone know when it was demolished?

This is DeHui Street as it looks today. There was no stoplight back then.

You just turned onto DeHui from Chung Shan North Road and hoped for the best.

Finally, this was the exact street and number of the President Hotel.

A large office building stands today at its former location.

Luggage Tag Image courtesy of Taipics.com

This nightclub page is pictured since four of the eight listed were inside hotels shown here.

Obviously, the author never visited the 77 Club!

Photo courtesy of Taipics.com

Standing at the time, but not included on the hotel page is the Imperial Hotel. It was also off-limits to servicemen on R and R.

At its same location as back then, The Imperial Hotel is rated a 4-star and still stands on the west side of LinSen North Road.

1973 Taiwan Report; courtesy of Don Wiggins, USTDC.blogspot.com

This update shows the new hotels that had opened by 1973, but include the most popular ones still in use.